Adobe Patches Critical PDF Vulnerability

October 28th, 2007

Adobe patched its Acrobat and Reader programs on Monday. The fix plugs a hole that exposed Windows XP users to attackers sending PDF files containing malware . According to various reports, exploits are running rampant around the Internet in search of unpatched applications.”Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Reader and Acrobat that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system,” Adobe said in a security bulletin. “A malicious file must be loaded in Adobe Reader or Acrobat by the end user for an attacker to exploit these vulnerabilities.”

Windows XP users who also run Internet Explorer 7 are at risk. Adobe first admitted to the bug about two weeks ago and posted a complex workaround that required users to edit the Windows registry. The flaw was first discovered on September 20 by “pdp” on the Gnucitizen Web site.

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